Domestic violence proving relentless

By Halifax Media ENC

Published: Friday, November 2, 2012 at 10:29 AM.

On July 23, 1991, an Onslow County resident by the name of Jolly Williams beat his 27-year-old wife, Judy Faye Kellum, into unconsciousness, and then set the small brick house they shared on fire, leaving her to perish in the resulting blaze.

Convicted of killing Judy the following October, Williams was sentenced to prison. Each time he comes up for parole, Judy’s family works to keep him inside, circulating petitions and speaking at his parole hearings.

Now graying and in his 50s, Jolly Williams is only one of many Eastern North Carolina residents convicted of charges stemming from domestic violence. It’s a crime that, despite continuing education and social condemnation, continues to surge almost unabated.

And domestic violence struck another blow last week when it claimed its latest victim in 22-year-old Jessica Hall, who was murdered by her husband, Jeremy, also 22. Police say Jeremy apparently shot his wife twice, then turned the gun on himself; both died in their small Jacksonville apartment.

Two days later, the Onslow Women’s Center hosted a candlelight vigil to memorialize Jessica Hall and other victims of domestic violence. At the short ceremony they read the names of the 51 individuals who perished this year at the hands of a domestic partner.

What is saddest of all is that those numbers don’t even tell the whole story — just the most tragic ones. And even though North Carolina has taken on the domestic violence issue at a grassroots level, fighting it has become an enduring challenge.

One look at the statistics from 2010-2011, as compiled by the North Carolina Department of Administration’s Council for Women, shows there is still much room for improvement, and Craven County is not immune.

On July 23, 1991, an Onslow County resident by the name of Jolly Williams beat his 27-year-old wife, Judy Faye Kellum, into unconsciousness, and then set the small brick house they shared on fire, leaving her to perish in the resulting blaze.

Convicted of killing Judy the following October, Williams was sentenced to prison. Each time he comes up for parole, Judy’s family works to keep him inside, circulating petitions and speaking at his parole hearings.

Now graying and in his 50s, Jolly Williams is only one of many Eastern North Carolina residents convicted of charges stemming from domestic violence. It’s a crime that, despite continuing education and social condemnation, continues to surge almost unabated.

And domestic violence struck another blow last week when it claimed its latest victim in 22-year-old Jessica Hall, who was murdered by her husband, Jeremy, also 22. Police say Jeremy apparently shot his wife twice, then turned the gun on himself; both died in their small Jacksonville apartment.

Two days later, the Onslow Women’s Center hosted a candlelight vigil to memorialize Jessica Hall and other victims of domestic violence. At the short ceremony they read the names of the 51 individuals who perished this year at the hands of a domestic partner.

What is saddest of all is that those numbers don’t even tell the whole story — just the most tragic ones. And even though North Carolina has taken on the domestic violence issue at a grassroots level, fighting it has become an enduring challenge.

One look at the statistics from 2010-2011, as compiled by the North Carolina Department of Administration’s Council for Women, shows there is still much room for improvement, and Craven County is not immune.

In the 2010-11 reporting session, Craven County reported 414 clients, 278 of whom were female, for a total of 1,841 domestic violence calls. Four required hospitalization. The Craven County shelter was full 181 days out of the reporting period.

It should be clear that while domestic violence is recognized as unacceptable, North Carolina — like the rest of the nation — still has a long way to go to make it a crime of the past.

Jessica Hall’s death, like that of Judy Faye Kellum back in 1991, reminds us that we should never give up the fight to put an end to domestic violence and the senseless loss of life that accompanies it.